How to Find the Right Digital Onboarding Platform for Your Company

There are many ways to deliver your employee onboarding process. Options include everything from the antiquated paper route to the modern paperless forms, human effort to intelligent automation, and a mix and match of everything in between. And while there may be many ways to go about one of the most important aspects of your hiring and retention objectives, there are not many solutions that can adequately cover all of your bases…but there are a few.

So if you’re looking for the cloud-based, digital route for your onboarding process, there are some important things to consider in helping you determine what is the best solution for your company. Here are some questions to consider when deciding on your digital, employee onboarding platform.

Does it actually do what it’s supposed to do?

For any HR professional (or any professional for that matter), this is the hallmark of anything you do within your job. The reality is that most onboarding processes today do not deliver on what is needed, yet because of time constraints, lack of support, or lack of budget, you get stuck in survival mode, trying to work with outdated methods and processes. For most companies today, much of the onboarding process does NOT deliver on what is needed. So as you look to move to either a digital platform, or a new digital platform, now is the time to really look to see if it can actually deliver on the metrics that matter to you and your company, such as: recruiting, hiring, engagement, productivity, and retention. A good solution will have case studies and show you how it’s not only worked for others, but why and how it will work for you.

Is it efficient?

One of the challenges of today’s technological advancement is that there is an app for everything. While that can be a good thing, it can also actually create inefficiency in systems like onboarding. You can have an entirely digital process, but if it’s broken up between 3 or 4 different systems, apps, or platforms, efficiency can be lost jumping from one platform to the next. Some of you deal with E-Verify for your I-9 forms, and then jump to another system for FMLA tracking and compliance, and even another for ACA Compliance and more. Throw in Paychex and Bullhorn, and you can lose efficiency in every jump to each platform.

Is it profitable?

This is a unique way of asking, “is it affordable?” Too often, we get caught up in asking how expensive something is, instead of understanding its worth. I believe that a great digital onboarding platform can be both affordable and profitable. How is an onboarding process profitable? It allows your company to successfully bring on new hires who translate in to being fully productive employees. Their training and engagement, driven by the measurable results of your onboarding platform, helps you to direct them and their career in a path that is profitable for your company. Of course you have budget considerations, but beyond that, see if your onboarding process has the ability to make your company profitable, even beyond the affordability.

Is it customizable?

This is an important consideration in a few areas. First, you want to know if what you’re getting in your onboarding platform is specific for your needs, or if it’s just a solution that a company is throwing out for anyone to catch. The ability to customize a platform to your needs assures that your company’s best interest is kept in the forefront. It also assures that you don’t end up having to pay for “parts” that you don’t really need. Customizing also creates the opportunity for upgrades and updates down the road without having to start over with an entirely new platform.

These are all important questions to consider, in addition to the technical requirements of what your company needs. I would also encourage you to consider the type of support you receive from your digital solution provider. Here at Essium, we offer a fully integrated, customized, cloud-based onboarding compliance solution thorough our PRYDE platform. You can leverage the power of our intelligent bots and automated processes to create an efficient, productive, and profitable onboarding process. We also partner with you and your team to provide top-notch service, as our team of humans makes sure that your system is exactly what you need, and that it is running at maximum efficiency. Even if you don’t give us a try, I hope you can find the solution that works for you. Happy hunting!

Ben Olson is the Chief Technology Officer of Essium, a premiere software company that has developed a revolutionary, customizable, onboarding compliance platform named PRYDE that leverages the power of intelligent bots. Designed to give HR a STRESS-FREE onboarding experience, PRYDE helps assimilate new employees, and retain personnel long-term.